Caroline Bragdon, a rat expert with New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, points out garbage containers near a park Sept. 17 in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York. The city's complaint hot-line is on pace for a record year of rat calls, exceeding the more than 24,000 over each of the last two years. | AP

Big Apple rat race: $3 million thrown at rodent plague

NEW YORK – Faced with a problem as old as New York itself, officials are turning to new ways to control the legions of rodents residing in the city.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has promised nearly $3 million and a new plan in which inspectors target specific communities with the highest number of rat complaints. They believe if they can cut off their food sources and break down their shelters, the rats will die off.

The city’s complaint hot-line is on pace for a record year of rat calls, exceeding the more than 24,000 over each of the last two years.

New York officials say rising complaint numbers don’t mean there are more rats in the city and they argue the rat population has actually been holding steady the past few years.